Following the opinions of the South Carolina appellate courts, the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. -- William J. Watkins, Jr.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Blawg Review #96

Welcome to this Presidents Day edition of Blawg Review. The South Carolina Appellate Law Blog is pleased to have y'all drop by. As the tag line indicates, my Blog follows the opinions of SCOTUS, the Fourth Circuit, and the South Carolina appellate courts. I also try to mix in a bit of fun and other legal news along the way.

As for me, I practice in Greenville, South Carolina, in the areas of civil and criminal appeals, health care, and professional negligence. A commitment to pro bono legal services is an important part of my practice. I serve as a pro bono special prosecutor for the state Attorney General in criminal domestic violence cases and also usually have at least one or two pro bono criminal appeals going at the same time. But for those darn Rules of Professional Conduct, I could convict a wife-beater and then represent him on appeal!

For those of you who don't know, Blawg Review is a collection of the best legal posts from around the blogosphere. I thank the editors for giving me this opportunity to host. I have divided the posts into broad categories reflecting the interests on the law blogging community during the past week. Each category will be dedicated to a different President in honor of the holiday. Without further delay, let's rock and roll with Blawg Review # 96.

SCOTUS

This category is dedicated to William Howard Taft for his services as POTUS and on SCOTUS!

Let's start with the big boys and girls in the black robes. They have been quiet lately, but we can soon expect things to heat up.

Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy questions whether Congress can force the Supremes to televise oral argument and other proceedings. Ilya Somin concurs with Kerr that Congress does have the power if it is so inclined. Hmmmm... I wonder if Justice Thomas would ask more questions if he was on camera?

At the Fraser Gallery, Doug Sanford is exhibiting photographs of his exgirlfriend's emails to him. She wrote them after she learned of his infidelities and ended her relationship with him. Transcending Gender reported that the exgirlfriend threatened legal action against Sanford and the gallery for copyright infringement; she claimed the words of the email were her property.

The fight over Pooh Bear heats up. The Likelihood of Confusion tried to make this legal fight a little less confusing. But since I am not an IP lawyer, I remain confused.....

Eric Turkewitz reported that the FDA is becoming concerned about drugs many Americans are buying over the internet. Many folks, it seems, are getting sick.

Law Firm Life

This category is dedicated to "His Rotundity" John Adams--the first lawyer to serve as POTUS.

Anonymous Lawyer knows the deal on life at a big law firm. I tell all students who ask me about law school to read his book and his blog. This week it appears AL was stabbed by an aggrieved associate . . . again. It seems AL ruined the man's life or something. A partner ruining an associate's life?? Come on--get real.

Speaking of being an arse, lawyers can behave like kids in a deposition, and Stephen Bainbridge discussed the latest case of misbehavior.

The formerly anonymous (and still great) Enrico Schafer mused that lawyers can be the most unreasonable people on Earth and that this profession can cost you a lot, including your personality.

Money Money Money. Associate salaries are in the news. David Lat at Abovethelaw noted that some have finally put the associate salary rise in proper perspective by divvying up the increase on a per-partner basis and calculating the number of bespoke suits each partner will have to forgo to pay for their greedy associates.

Now we will take a closer look and find out what lawyers say about their jobs. Lawyers complain of a lack of control, being sandwiched between judges and clients. They complain about the increasing hostility between fellow lawyers, a lack of loyalty between partners, and a diminishing public image(all those lawyer jokes don’t help). But paramount to all these, they complain about the torturous hours.

Lets get straight to the crux then, the hours. Lawyers nowadays just do not have enough time for their families and themselves at all. They complain of being sacrificed to the company instead of dedicating themselves to it. Whats the normal working hours like for a big firm associate? Think at least 12 hours, six days a week. Now we are beginning to understand a little of the problem.

International Issues

This category is dedicated to Woodrow Wilson and his legacy of international intervention.

Roger Alford tells us about a habeas case which prevented the transfer of an American citizen to the jurisdiction of the Iraqi courts.

Torture ought not even be debated, but in Dubya's war on terror it unfortunately is. Peggy McGuinness discussed how the "ticking time bomb" myth shapes our perceptions about the acceptability and utility of torture.

Geeklawyer, the IP Barrister, is putting together a conference for Brit bloggers in May--he's been working really hard on it. I wouldn't mind having a pint or two and discussing blogging with that distinguished line up.

I dedicate this section to Mr. Jefferson--my favorite president in US History.

Eric Muller posted a "cool" letter he found relating to the Gibbons v. Ogden decision and noted the over-the-top oration employed during the hearing. Ann Althouse found that those involved didn't shy away from the double entendres she's noted in teaching the decision.

Should the Framers have ditched the Vice Presidency? Sandy Levinson, in considering a hypothetical redesign of the Constitution, wondered what value (if any) the vice-presidency has.

This section is dedicated to Andrew Johnson, who taught himself to read and never spent one day in formal education.

For an interesting take on how court rules hamper the efforts of strong legal writers, see Attorney Mark Herrmann's recent blog post. Herrmann refers specifically to the work of two talented writers on the Seventh Circuit's bench, writers who know when to break the rules.

Lawrence Solum blogged the "Writing About the Law" conference at New York Law School, a conference attended by fellow bloggers Randy Barnett (of Volokh Conspiracy) and Ann Althouse.

Employment

This section is dedicated to FDR who was very successful at keeping himself employed.

Michael Fitzgibbon highlighted several key elements regarding the tort of negligent hiring. This tort is based upon the theory that an employer has a duty to protect its employees and customers from other employees that the employer has reason to believe, or should have reason to believe, pose a threat to others.

Overlawyered reported that things don't work out to well when government prohibits employers from checking into an applicants background.

Ted Frank informed us that a case involving death of a policeman sickened after working "fourteen hour days in the smoldering pit" at the World Trade Center site took a strange turn as it was revealed that the man only worked a few shifts for overtime pay and only months after 9/11 when the "smoldering pit" was no longer smoldering.

Miscellaneous

We are wrapping up fast here and that's a good feeling. So let's dedicate this final section to the Era of Good Feeling and James Monroe.

Unintended consequences of Sarbanes-Oxley--The law designed to increase transparency has resulted in companies keeping secrets from investors by selling bonds, or debt securities, that aren't registered with the Securities and Exchange. Leon Gettler tells us all about it.

Hanno Kaiser at the Antitrust Review criticizes Louis Kaplow and Carl Shapiro's paper "Antitrust" for failing to pay attention to "the ideological underpinnings of antitrust and the normative distributive commitments that are part and parcel of economic theory. "

MLB and the beer advertisements: They say their players should not sell suds, but Bud Selig has no issues with Miller Lite advertising during baseball games. Sports Law Blog has a good post on this and related issues.

2 comments:

due to the suspension of habeas corpus (thanks to the Military Commissions Act) there is no legal recourse for detainees of the United States. the lawyers for hospital administrator Adel Hamad, a detainee at Guantanamo, thus took the unprecedented step of releasing video testimony on YouTube to the court of public opinion.

where you can also add your name in support of habeas restoration as well as read a blog posting by Brandon Mayfield, the U.S. citizen wrongfully incarcerated for the Madrid bombings who is now challenging the constitutionality of the Patriot Act in district court